Is there anybody with any integrity these days who will stand up to Donald Trump and his band of goons? As I wrote on these pages yesterday, Fox News has chosen to throw a good portion its reputation into the toile, thanks largely to people like Eric Bolling who insist over and over again they are not on the “Trump train” and merely giving the GOP frontrunner the same attention any other frontrunner would get.

Right. 

Eric Bolling’s favoritism towards Donald Trump makes Chris “Thrill Leg” Matthews look like Woodward & Bernstein during Watergate. It is not news, nor is it even commentary when you toss away any semblance of objectivity and replace it with fawning allegiance to one person at the expense of all others.

That allegiance (which is a nice word for it) to Trump by Bolling was no more evident than when Eric apparently told Michelle Fields, to take a hike. Fields was a regular on Bolling’s Fox News show, ‘Cashing In.’ However, with Fields accusing Trump campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski of assault and resigning from the site that has done a disservice to the memory of Andrew Breitbart, it was time for her to get shoved away from Fox as well. From The Daily Beast:

Michelle Fields used to appear weekly on Fox News weekend gabfest Cashin’ In. The show’s host, Eric Bolling, was one of her biggest boosters—giving her a regular spot on his program, promoting her on social media, serving as a key “advocate” for the budding conservative commentator’s career.

But that’s all over now that she dared to get manhandled by Donald Trump’s notoriously shady campaign manager.

After Fields was grabbed and nearly yanked to the ground by Corey Lewandowski, hung out to dry by her own employers at Breitbart News (who later vowed to sue her), and maliciously smeared by the Trump campaign, nearly all of her colleagues at Fox have publicly and repeatedly shared their support. But not Bolling.

Instead, according to multiple sources close to the situation, she received a phone call from Bolling’s producer informing her that she will no longer appear on Cashin’ In.

Fields was told that she’s off the show because she is no longer “impartial” to Trump and therefore cannot speak objectively on his candidacy so long as it’s in the news.

Bolling’s producer said Michelle Fields is no longer impartial to Trump. 

And if this is what Bolling’s producer told Fields, there is only one logical conclusion to reach and that is the order came from Eric Bolling himself. It is after all, his show. He makes these decisions. Bolling accusing Fields of being impartial to Trump is like David Duke saying Westboro Baptist Church is “too bigoted.”

I’m so sick and tired of this. People are getting smeared, losing their jobs and for what? To reap the rewards (ie ratings and clicks) that come with being a Donald Trump sycophant? Is this where the conservative movement is headed? If so, it’s dead already and people just don’t know it.

How long have Republicans and conservatives rightly complained of the mainstream media showing not just favoritism towards Democrats, but outright allegiance to them and hostility to Republicans and conservatives? In that vein, how bad does it look for a television news station to show such favoritism to one political candidate?

The Fox News Channel had enough to deal with from the likes of Media Matters before all of this. This kind of stunt only fuels the fire and Fox News it seems is happy to piss away its’ reputation because Donald Trump brings ratings and therefore, more advertising dollars.

William Devane must be happy.

***** UPDATE ***** – Fox News has responded:

From a FOX News spokesperson:

“There was never any discussion or directive to remove Michelle Fields from the program and certainly not by Eric Bolling. The only recent conversation about her appearances on Cashin In’ was with a show producer last night and they mutually agreed to take her role as a guest panelist on a week to week basis.”